Arisugawa's Locket Vs SHIELD
by shanejayell
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Super Human Registry Act is now in charge of policing Super Humans. What will they do when they find a bar FULL of them?
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: I own none of the various anime series featured within or any of the Marvel Comics characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile. For people who follow my fanfics this ties in to the regular Arisugawa's Locket series before chapter 87.

Arisugawa's Locket Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.

Prologue

Arisugawa's Locket is a bar founded by Arisugawa Juri, a orange haired lesbian in her twenties. Tired of pick-up bars filled with people she didn't want to deal with she was inspired to open a bar, originally intended as a small establishment for some of her more... unusual friends. However, things ballooned out of control fairly quickly.

Guided by a esper of her acquaintance Juri soon assembled a rather unusual staff for her under-construction bar. Hitomi Kanzaki of the anime series Escaflowne, Ryouko and Minagi from Tenchi Muyo, Nabiki Tendo of Ranma ½, Excel Excel and Hyatt from Excel Saga, May from Hand Maid May, and Keiko Sonoda from Revolutionary Girl Utena.

The unusual staff brought about a change to the bar as the alien genius Washu Hakubi installed a variation on her 'Dimension tuner' into basement of the building. The tuner allows the bar to exist across multiple dimensions and lets residents of those dimensions access the bar, within limits. The tuner also shields the bar to a extent from outside forces, but not entirely. As the bar 'phases' between dimensions it obviously becomes visible in each world, which can lead to it's own problems...

S.H.I.E.L.D. is the Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate, an organization existing in the Marvel Universe who has recently become involved with policing superhuman activities. Founded in the nineteen sixties as a spy organization they often came into conflict with HYDRA, Zodiac and even Godzilla.

The former head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, resigned after a politically disastrous covet attack on Latervia, leaving the organization leaderless. Agent Maria Hill was appointed head of S.H.I.E.L.D. over several Fury loyalists, apparently because of her loyalty to the United States. While she served with distinction, she was blindsided by what would become known as the Stamford Disaster.

Two warring groups of super-humans destroyed the city of Stamford, triggering a conflict over registering super-humans. S.H.I.E.L.D. was assigned the job of policing the registry in the US, and similar laws were signed into law in different countries around the world. Tony Stark aka Iron Man provided Stark-tech armor for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use, also eventually becoming head of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.

Now S.H.I.E.L.D. is aware that Arisugawa's Locket is shifting into and out of their universe randomly, possibly taking super-humans with it. What are they going to DO?

Notes: This is a summary intended for either my comics fans who have no idea about anime and/or my anime fans who might be clueless about comics. Don't worry, chapter one is going up monday.


	2. First Wave

Arisugawa's Locket Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.

Part One

Ranma Saotome smiled as the busty redheaded woman waved the three women inside. "I hope you have a fun night," she added as the three headed down the hall. 'Army types visiting from as base?' Ranma guessed as she took in the woman's close cropped hair and slightly stiff bearing, then she decided not to worry about it.

The three women stuck close together as they were greeted by Excel Excel, then moved through the press of the crowd to a unoccupied table. They got water and ordered soda from a waitress in a maid outfit as the three took in the chaos around them. Women wore outfits from several different eras, including a few from the future, there was a riot of hair and skin tones and several people practically radiated physical, mental or spiritual power.

"I guess the tips we heard about this place were right," the youngest of the three admitted, her blond hair a almost honey gold.

"It certainly looks like it," Erica Swensen agreed, the lead agent's brown hair falling a bit messily into her eyes. She casually took out what looked like a MP3 player and touched the front, "Helicarrier, do you read me?"

High above Japan the Hellicarrier flew, looking like the love child of a aircraft carrier, a swarm of helicopters and a rocket. Maria Hill, second in command of S.H.I.E.L.D., listened as the tech teams confirmed the dimensional shift that the bar used as a cloak was inactive.

"Using portable scanners we've confirmed multiple super-humans," Erica said seriously, "all unregistered. Also, there's some pretty odd readings down here, so I'd suggest sending in the armored cape-hunters."

Maria made a face, knowing the call to deploy them was her's alone. "Cape-killers are a go," she agreed.

"Cape-killers go," the tech said, "agents, stay on site but do not act unless necessary or if the operation is completely blown. Understood?"

"Confirmed," Erica nodded.

"Put me through to the cape-killer launch bay," Maria ordered the communication's system. "Ladies and gentlemen," she addressed the agents, "we have been invited here by Japan's government to investigate a possible superhuman underground base. We've found it, and you are being deployed to deal with it."

As a rumble of conversation started Maria continued, "Remember that we are here as guests of Japan. I want minimum damage and casualties, people, this is a capture rather than kill op." She finished with, "Do your job, like the professionals you are."

"Cape-killers launched," the computer reported a few moments later, "suit based power dampers running normally. Anyone who takes a shot at them is getting a big surprise."

'Whoever is running that bar down there,' Maria thought to herself, 'I hope like hell you're smart and surrender immediately.'

Ranma Saotome enjoyed being the door woman and sometimes bouncer at Arisugawa's Locket. Not only did she get to stand out here chatting with the ladies, but she could do it without being pounded on by her girlfriend Akane. But no matter how much fun this was it hadn't dulled her battle instinct and she was getting a bad feeling about those army women she let in....

Looking up Ranma's eyes widened as she took in about twenty faceless battle armored figures flying down out of the night sky, practically radiating menace. "Ladies, better get out of here, trouble's coming, " she warned the women waiting in line then touched the keypad by the door, "Juri!"

"Yes?" Juri answered, faintly surprised to hear a bit of strain in Ranma's voice. 'Trouble,' she thought grimly as she stood seemingly calmly by the bar.

"Military forces, incoming," Ranma said seriously, "armored and carrying weapons. I'll...." She started to add something else when a burst of feedback made Ranma wince. She tried the communication button again and just got static before letting it go. "Jamming?" Ranma murmured as the first few touched down, "Now I know you're unfriendly."

The leader of the armored figures stepped forward, his heavy rifle like weapon hanging at his side. "I am Ken Scarborough of Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate," he announced.

"Eh?" Ranma blinked while still moving to put herself between them and the door.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Ken gave the shortened version. "We're here by invitation of the Japanese government to investigate super-human activities on this location. Step aside."

"Where's your warrant?" Ranma asked, folding her arms.

"Don't joke around, Miss," Ken said quietly, "we don't need a warrant. Now move, before someone gets hurt."

"No," Ranma said, "so unless you storm troopers wanna shoot me, buzz off."

Apparently one trooper did, bringing up his electromagnetic stun gun to drop the stubborn young lady. However Ranma saw the motion and moved, a blur of speed that disarmed the man before he could fire a second shot, his first zipping through where Ranma had been. The 'chestnuts from fire' speed punches sent the trooper reeling, then Ranma delivered a kick that sent him flying.

'That tears it,' Ken grimaced as he ordered his team to restrain the girl.

Nearly five minutes later up on the Hellicarrier Maria Hill listened with disbelief to a update. "One woman is holding off twenty cape-killers?" she demanded.

"One woman and several ladies who were trying to get in the club," the commander reported glumly. "the closest equivilent to her power signature is the martial artist Iron Fist. She had apparently fully disabled five suits and seriously damaged six more. The rest are using ranged weapons and trying to stay out of her reach."

"Damn" Maria cursed softly.

"Should we send the second squad of cape-killer suits in?" the commander asked.

"Hmm," Maria frowned. She had reviewed the confrontation, and while S.H.I.E.L.D units had the authority to go in without a warrant, the woman's demanding to see one wasn't that unreasonable. If someone had told her about the request before the shooting started, she would have put the squad on standby and gone get one! But now that weapons were fired, they were committed....

"Sir?" the commander pressed.

"Send them in," Maria ordered, "but not to subdue the door woman. Have units on the spot draw her away and have the new team get inside the building itself."

"Understood," the commander saluted as she hurried to relay the orders.

As soon as Ranma saw the second group of armored troops dropping from the sky she realized that they had deliberately sucked her out of position. She used a breaking point attack on the road, sending rock flying like shrapnel then hauled out her phone, hoping the jamming was down.

As the phone rang Juri and the others were watching the fight on security cameras, having bolted the doors on orders from Ranma herself when she first started the guard job. "Arisugawa," Juri picked it up.

"Saotome," Ranma grinned then went serious as she used a long range ki attack to shoot down a flier, "there's a second team coming, heading for the doors. I'm too out of position to stop 'em."

"You've done wonderfully, Ranma," Juri reassured her, "no one could have done better." She smiled a dangerous little smile as she added, "Besides, I want a shot at whoever decided that it was a good idea to attack my bar."

"Good luck," Ranma said as she hung up, punching at another as she noted how hard it was to really hurt them. 'Kinda like fighting a army of Ryouga's,' she thought, enjoying the challenge.

It was at that moment that three particular ladies ended-up getting distracted from their activities. "Huh? What the hell was that?" asked Irene 'Rally' Vincent, the dusky vampire setting down her glass of O-negative blood.

Seras Victoria also noticed, setting down her glass as well. "There seems to be some sort of commotion at the front door," she offered. The Draculina then turned to her former fledgling and added, "You don't suppose Juri's contending with some gate crasher, like what happened when Pip and his men tried to get in when the club appeared near us?"

"Maybe, Master," Rally said, again taking a sip of her blood, "just so long as it's _**not**_another version of Goldie trying to push her drugs in here! Don't want to face _**HER **_if I have to!"

"Now you two stop that!" Moria Hedgley admonished, the young brunette sipping her tea. "Honestly, both of you are acting like my father, worrying like that! This is my first time here, after all, and we're supposed to be having fun, not like when you two ran-off that one girl that tried to pick me up!"

"I wouldn't exactly call 'Whirlwind' Solude Schfoltzer a proper lady to be around, Moria," Seras countered, taking note of a woman with short, spiky brown hair currently moping at the bar. "For all the times we've been here, she seems to have created her share of broken hearts here. I know we suggested that you would have a fling-or-two before we left, but me and Rally just didn't want to have you end-up as one of her conquests."

Moria nodded, taking note. She then turned her attention to Rally, her green eyes twinkling, "So, my lovely… have any plans of taking me to those…" she blushed slightly, "upstairs rooms you and Seras are always talking about?"

"Uh… maybe, let's not rush things too much, okay Moria?" Rally said, her attention returning to the commotion at the front door. Moria simply sighed discouragedily, but didn't say anything more.

The three just ignored the ruckus that seemed to be occurring at the front door, instead concentrating on their own celebration. Rally did take note, however, that Ryoko had left her position at the bar, changing out of her street clothes as she did. She also saw Juri leaving the back office in somewhat of a hurry. Deciding to ignore it, she turned her attention back to Seras and Moria.

"What's the plan?" Ryouko Hibiki asked Juri, the cyan haired space pirate having changed out of street clothes into her form fitting battle wear.

Juri drew out the handle of the Jurain energy blade that Ryouko and Minagi had given her, the one she practiced with daily. A burst of will and the blade ignited, a saber glowing in orange. "They're guests," she smiled, "we'll show them our best."

The second team of cape-killers dropped almost right on top of the bar, watching in shock as one woman and several apparently normal females beat the crap out of a full squad of twenty of their comrades. "All right," Commander Abby Chase said as her team set up by the doors, "we blast our way in, shock and awe style. We want to frighten them so bad they'll give up."

"If they're anything like that redhead, ain't gonna happen," one of her teammates muttered.

Wisely ignoring that, the team went to work. An attempt to kick the doors down, even with their powered armor, failed but a shaped C-4 charge blew up the outer doors with a satisfying boom. The team of soldiers advanced as best they could down the small hallway, only managing to fit three abreast. The lead squad broke into the bar itself with guns leveled, the smoke still blocking much of their vision.

Abby's eyes widened as three figures emerged from the gloom, hefting what looked like honest to god LIGHT SABERS and having remarkably vicious expressions on their faces. "Get the hell out of my bar," the orange haired woman ordered dangerously, "or suffer the consequences."

To be continued!

Our Cast: Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo are from Ranma ½, Juri Arisugawa and Keiko are from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ryouko and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo and May is from Hand Maid May.

Characters: Erica Swensen is from Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Maria Hill is from Avengers and other books, and Abbey Chase and her team are based off Danger Girls. Rally Vincent is from Gunsmith Cats, Seres Victoria is from Hellsing, Schfoltzer is from Maze and Moria Hedgley is from a original fic by BigKwell, Night Angels.

Notes: Before the Ranma purists start yelling that Ranma should be kicking the asses of the SHIELD agents all on his/her own, there are two points to consider. The first is that the SHIELD agents are equipped with power damper fields. They don't entirely shut down Ranma's Ki abilities, but they do weaken them, weakening his/her blows and energy bursts. The other issue is that Ranma does not want to let loose with the BIG attacks because of the sort of property damage they do. And, of course, he doesn't want to kill the agents, too.

This is a tie in to Night Angels Version 2, and also contains text by BigKwell. You can read his fic on fanfiction dot net.


	3. Outside

Arisugawa's Locket Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.

One and a Half

By Claude C. Kenny and Shanejayell

For just a moment, the Lady thought that perhaps Dante's bad luck had rubbed off on them.

The scarred and heterochromic mercenary-slash-devil hunter who went by the handle of "Lady" had been looking forward to a relaxing night out in Arisugawa's Locket, her interest in the club piqued by the glowing description of its "virtues" by her date - yes, she wasn't shy about calling it that now - who claimed to have visited it before. And judging from how Trish had rather gamely chatted with some of the other women who were queueing at the front door and with the red-haired bouncer, she mused that it might be enjoyable place to unwind indeed.

Then a bunch of heavily armed and ARMORED figures, looking to be of some special military task force (they did announce themselves as being from SHIELD, whatever that meant) had shown up at the street, pegged the club as a hotbed of so-called "unregistered" supehumans (not gonna argue there, but their approach had not been appreciable) and had now begun attacking the door woman who had merely reacted to being shot at by their high-tech stun guns, turning a

stand-off into a brawl of increasingly massive proportions.

The other girls who were waiting entry into the Locket with them had very quickly decided to help out, using whatever weapons they had on hand or other skills and abilities. Their loyalty to the establishment had impressed Lady very much as they tried to hold the line between a second wave of human soldiers supporting the power-suited attackers and the club doors after the red haired bouncer was lured out of position.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Saki, look out!" the pink haired woman cried as she bulled through a crowd of S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers like they weren't there, hurrying to a brown haired woman's side. They both wore odd variations on maid outfits, one very frilly and old fashioned, the other quite sleek.

"I'm all right, Kurumi," the brown haired girl reassured her. She glared at the troopers moving to surround them, "But these men are ruining are date!"

One of the S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers pointed his rifle at them warily as he said, "You need to come with me, ladies."

Kurumi blinked at him innocently as she asked, "Why? We're just waiting to get in the club."

The trooper wondered what planet they were from as he said a bit more forcefully, "You have to come with me." He poked at Kurumi with the mussle of his gun, "Now."

With surprising speed Saki pulled the gun out of his hand as she exclaimed, "Don't poke people." She put a hand at the muzzle and stock and pressed, compacting the weapon into a small, metallic ball.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier swiftly decided this was way beyond his pay grade. "Sorry, ladies, please excuse me," he said as he hurried away.

"What strange people," Kurumi noted mildly.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Their resistance made all of them targets of course, and she and her companion both reacted similarly to being attacked in such a manner. A missile shot from Kalina-Ann, her heavily-customized MANPADS (man-portable air-defense system) staggered one of the armors, and Trish followed suit with a barrage from her dual pistols, every bullet fired sparking with demonic lightning.

"I guess we've been hanging around Dante too long, eh?" quipped Trish after the SHIELD suit they were double-teaming keeled over, twitching from electrical damage. Lady smiled at this; apparently her date was thinking the same thing

she was.

"Tell me about it Trish," she replied with a grin as they took cover behind a parked car (that was quickly shot up by the armors yet remained intact enough to serve as a shield). As an afterthought Lady added, "You know, if I didn't care at all for the money that strawberry-sundae freak owes me, I wouldn't have to drop by on him every so often. I'm just lucky I can get some of it back if there's not a lot of property damage Dante has to answer for." She felt like she wanted to say more, but as Trish gave a sensual giggle at her little rant regarding their mutual "business partner", Lady had to turn and look at her companion, and be once again in awe at how the two of them had clicked together by now.

Trish and Lady's first meeting was not at all cordial. The latter was a devil hunter, and had easily pegged the former as a creature of dark power. They may well have killed each other were it not for Dante's intervention, and the

revelation that they both have past connections to the Son of Sparda. The two have gotten along swimmingly afterwards after seeing how the two of them were rather adept at wrapping the half-and-half devil hunter around their fingers when they felt a need to. And then, it just got to that point. The trip to the Locket really would have been their first date. Who knew it would end up like this?

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Bettie Divine, demon girl reporter and Betty Page look alike clubbed a soldier over the head with her purse as she scrambled for cover. Being a cub reporter for the Night Times she was determined to crack a big story, or at least a interesting one so she decided to investigate a mysterious disappearing club.

"I didn't expect this," Bettie yelped, ducking down lower. She looked at her companion, "I thought you said you'd protect me?!"

Janissary Jane, freelance mercenary and monster hunter scowled as she watched the fighting. "Most of what I brought was for Nightside beings, not mortal soldiers," she explained tersely.

"We're in mortal London?" Bettie blinked, knowing the the Nightside hid in the deepest, dark heart of London.

"Actually, I think we're in Japan," Jane said as she pulled a shotgun from her back holster and swapped out demon killing rounds for normal bullets.

Bettie's thoughts raced, "So the bar moves around between mortal Earth and the Nightside...."

"Looks like it," Jane popped up to exchange fire with several soldiers, "and we got hauled along with it."

"Eep!" Bettie squeaked in alarm as she ducked to avoid a exploding piece of car, smoke winding up into the night sky. "This'll make a good story," she muttered as she carefully took pictures, "assuming I survive."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"I'm gonna kill those guys," Lady huffed as she peeked over the car and fired the Kalina-Ann again, followed by Trish pointing a hand in the air and causing a bolt of lightning to come down from the sky on another SHIELD suit. "Some date this turned out to be."

"Not exactly the ideal night out," mused the stunning blonde demon homonculus as she saw her target go black. "But I'm having fun anyway. Aren't you?" The wicked smile on her face was entrancing.

Lady mentally thanked the absent Dante for giving her a chance to meet this dark goddess, as well as the demon lord Mundus for making Trish so physically identical to Dante's late mother that he would feel awkward around the idea of a relationship with her. A delightful set of circumstances had brought them together like this, so that the scarred devil hunter could honestly reply, "Hell yeah this is fun! Come on, babe!"

The two partners finally leaped up from behind the wrecked auto, weapons brought to bear.

"LET'S ROCK!"

BLAM! BLAM! BOOM! KZZT! BZZT! Ka-BOOOOOOM!

Devil Hunter Ranking: S (for STYLISH!)

To be continued!

Characters: Trish and Lady, from Devil May Cry the Animation, Saki and Kurumi from Steel Angel Kurumi and Bettie Divine and Janissary Jane are from Simon Green's Nightside novels.

**Claude C. Kenny's Notes:**

The original segment was actually long, with a little backstory on how how I would see these two characters being together (presented as a musing on Lady's part as they kick SHIELD ass). But my original file was lost, so I had to retype and seriously cut it down in time for Shane's deadline. I see these to being active in the defense of the Locket, but leaving after the battle. For the planned counterstrike against SHIELD I will introduce another pairing from inside the Locket already. I hope this segment will be up to stuff.

OMAKE:

In the middle of pounding the SHIELD armors, Ranma scanned the area, and did a double take at the building adjacent to the Locket. She had seen it many times before while on duty so she knew what it was. And that it why she was puzzled as to how the building's logo of a coffee cup was replaced by a camera, and the sign now read "Hikari Studio".

"Huh?" wondered the redhead. "Wasn't the building next to us a coffee shop until a minute ago?"

~ This OMAKE only makes sense to those who watch Japanese tokusatsu shows. It's

something similar to Washu's device in the Locket.

(.com/watch?v=2TyVa5bOOIc 00:48)

**Shanejayell's Notes: **

I left Claude's work mostly intact, other than a bit of editing and breaking up some REALLY long paragraphs. Saki and Kurumi are in here based off a reader request, though which ones are open to interpretation. (There are THREE Kurumi series, all of which take place in different times). I've been meaning to slip Nightside characters in a Locket story, and this seemed a good spot. ^_~


	4. Second Wave

Arisugawa's Locket Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.

Part Two

As Juri, Ryoko and Minagi took up a guard position in front of the entrance way, the other members of the bar moved out. Mahoro and Alpha went up stairs to the second floor, taking up firing positions from the top of the stairs. Both of them hefted heavy guns of exotic design, alien killers from Mahoro's reality, that might not stop the intruders but would certainly hurt them.

"Miss Mahoro," Alpha asked as she took up a kneeling posture by the side of the stairway, "should we shoot to wound, or kill?"

Mahoro made sure her maid's outfit wasn't too rumpled as she knelt on the floor, sighting professionally down the stairs. "I'm assuming we're fighting humans," she answered thoughtfully, "We won't use lethal force unless they do."

"That makes sense," Alpha said with a bit of relief.

As the outer doors exploded they braced for the enemy even as Excel Excel and Hyatt drew impressive looking cleavers from under their usual outlandish costumes. Excel smiled evilly as she hefted the blade, "You and I clean up the leakers, Hyatt."

"Yes, Excel-sama," Hyatt answered weakly, but a determined glint shone in the ill girl's eye.

Princess Sasami of Jurai watched from the rear, the little girl fretting obviously. Part of her wanted to become her adult self, Tsunami, and join the fight, but she also knew that her power couldn't be safely unleashed in such a small space. No, the best thing she could do was hold back, ready to act if the circumstances changed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The entire of Arisugawa's Locket had looked in amazement at the sound of an explosion from the front door. Equally surprised were the two vampires and one werewolf that had just came in for a good time. "Dear God!" Moria Hedgley gasped, still in human form. "What was that?"

"Sounded like about a couple ounces of C-4 to me!" Irene 'Rally' Vincent said, the dusky vampire now regretting she left her weapons at the Hellsing mansion before setting out for the night.

Moria just looked at Rally oddly, until Seras Victoria tapped her shoulder. "Experience from being around her old partner May for so long, Moria dear," the Draculina said.

"Oh," the brunette replied. "That stands to reason."

Rally nodded in agreement. "Both me and May's experiences rubbed off on each other," she explained with a smile. "I got to know a little of explosives, she got to know something about firearms." She then looked at the dust that was kicked-up from the explosion, "But still, if these crashers think they're going to start a fight here, I'll show them they've picked the wrong vampire to fight!" she growled, her orange-red eyes glowing as she prepared for battle.

"Not so fast, Rally!" Seras commanded firmly. "I suggest we let Juri and the others handle these ruffians! If they need our help, we'll let them ask us, if they can!"

Hearing that disappointed Rally. "Yes, Master," she grumbled as the glow in her eyes faded, wishing she could get into the fight. "Y'know, you're no fun!"

"She just looking out for your best interests, Rally dear," Moria reassured, giving the dusky vampire a peck on the cheek.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The mob of soldiers advanced cautiously down the hall, only to freeze when confronted by Juri and the others. May smiled as the cybernetic maid grabbed a first aid kit, all the while hoping that it wouldn't be needed.

As Juri swung her blade the first time, music blared out, nearly stunning everyone in the bar. "HERE WE ARE! Born to be kings, we're the princes of the universe!" Classic music from Queen shook their bones as Ryoko and Minagi joined the attack, "Here we belong, fighting to survive in a war with the darkest powers!"

"Hai!" Juri yelled as the song hit the right part, grinning while slicing a shocked soldier's powered rifle in two.

Over by the kareoke machine, a young woman smirked as she watched and listened. "Now that was appropriate," Amachi Hitsugi of the Tenchi academy said, her light brown hair flowing over her shoulders..

"Hitsugi-san, shouldn't we go help?" Miyamoto Shizuku asked, her short red-brown hair held back by a headband, both wearing almost white uniforms and two wooden swords hanging around Shizuku's waist.

"No," Hitsuki said firmly, "interfering in another person's fight is unspeakably rude. If these ruffians force past them, then we shall act!"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Natalia Castle complained as the S.H.I.E.L.D. trooper tried to force forward again, dodging a blazing energy blade.

The whole situation was devolving into a mess, hell, at this point Natalia was seriously wondering if this whole thing was a trap! The enemy had them pinned down in the increasingly busted up hallway, with no room to spread out and use their weapons. Only a few of them at a time were able to engage the three maniacs with swords, and they were slicing and dicing armor like there was no tomorrow. Even worse was the precision bullet fire coming in from behind the three crazies, that was damaging radios, visors and clipping important weapons systems.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," one of the men in their unit groaned, trying to push forward with the rest of them.

"What's wrong, Dan?" Nat asked flatly.

"I dunno," Dan admitted, "it feels like something invisible is bodily trying to push me out of the bar, it even feels wrong being in here somehow."

A quick tally found out that almost all the guys in the unit felt the same. "What the hell is up with this bar?" Nat cursed. Her mind raced, "Get explosive charges on the hallway walls. We need to open up the battlefield or we're sunk!"

"Oh hell," Juri saw what the men in back were doing and yelled to her team, "Can anybody do something about that?"

On cue, Mahoro fired her gun, punching a depleted uranium bullet right through the detonator on one charge, rendering it inert. But another soldier got his body between them and his charge, planting it on the wall then diving for cover as it rapidly counted down.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Up on the Hellicarrier, Commander Maria Hill watched the explosion go off and the combat rage on through the disjointed view of information relayed from the various combat suits. To be honest, she was rather unsurprised that the people inside the bar were so formidable, considering what the women outside were like!

"We're attempting to identify the superhumans now," Agent Stillwell reported, his glasses gleaming, "No results in our databanks, but my teams are increasing the search parameters and I'm sure we'll get a hit."

"How's the incursion team doing?" Maria asked as an energy sword sliced off one combat suit's power-pack, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Five are completely down," Stillwell nodded to the screen, "There are eleven total damages to one extent or the other. The nine undamaged have just blown out the hallway walls and are moving to try to encircle the defending force!"

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Juri!" Ryoko yelled a warning as the armored suits kicked down blown-out walls and spread in a front to move into the Locket.

"I see them!" Juri noted as a familiar figure crept up the side wall towards the invaders.

Nabiki Tendo would be the first to tell you that she was a gambler, not a fighter. Yes, in her younger days she had learned the Tendo style of 'Anything-Goes Martial Arts', but she had put that aside to follow her money making schemes. But Nabiki had been here from the beginning! In fact, she had been here when this place was just a gleam in Juri's eye... and seeing the damage pissed her off!

"Power spike!" a trooper managed to yell a warning just before a giant mallet came out of nowhere and hit him like Mjornir, the hammer of Thor. The power in the mallet, plus the force of the blow, sent him flying, careening down the hall to collide with a group of damaged armors, sending them all rolling out onto the street.

"Nabiki?" Keiko blinked, her eyes wide as the brown haired woman hosed down the smoking expanded front entrance with fire fighting foam, making sure the damage left by the explosives didn't spark a fire.

"The first secret technique of the Tendo 'Anything Goes' School," Nabiki explained as she ducked behind a table to avoid gunfire, "manifesting ki as a solid mallet. Problem is... you have to be _**REALLY**_ angry to use the technique!"

"Explains why your sister Akane uses it so often," Keiko managed to smile.

"Keiko!" May scolded her lover, chuckling.

"Back! Back!" Excel yelled nearby as the hyperactive girl used her cleaver like a toy rather than the deadly implement it was, scaring the troopers as well as any nearby customers. Hyatt, with frightening casualness, used her inhuman strength to tear away weapons units and armor plate off her foes, tossing the 'unshelled' troopers up the hall.

Juri grunted with effort as she hit another trooper, feeling a powerful headache coming on. There was some kind of jammer/disruptor in the enemy combat suits that degraded their energy blades. They could still make them work, but it took much more concentration that they normally required. She also suspected that was why Ryouko and Minagi hadn't cut loose with energy bolts, it took too much effort just keeping their swords going.

"Looks like we're holding 'em back," Ryouko panted out, a bit of blood running into her face from a near miss bullet. She was surprisingly tired and sore, considering what she was usually capable of, but it felt good.

Commander Abby Chase pushed forward, her armor having been crippled early in the fight and been shed, revealing a battered blond in uniform. The troopers back off a bit to give her room, and Juri paused to see what she wanted. "My name is Commander Abby Chase, I'm with the Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate!" she said flatly.

"Good!" Minagi snarled back, "Now we know where to send the bill!"

Abby ignored that with cool dignity as she continued, "We're here to capture unregistered super humans, of which this bar is full." She looked at Juri calmly as she kept her voice calm and reasonable, "Surrender now, and I'll do my best to get leniency for you."

'Well, that explains a lot,' Juri admitted as she looked the woman over. She turned a bit to take in the vampires, cyborgs, robots, martial artists and the occasional magical girl in the bar, knowing that these troopers would probably try to arrest them all.

"Well?" Abby prompted.

"These are my customers and friends and I won't let you take them," Juri answered as she raised her sword in a guard position. She smiled grimly, "I'll make you a counter offer: take you troops and get out before it gets worse. Because I promise you, it WILL get worse!"

"Can't do that," Abby said with some regret in her voice.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Outside, Ranma had actually gotten some relief as two oddballs waiting to get into the bar joined in the fight. The one woman was dressed as a miko and was using charm magic, freezing troopers she hit, while the flying woman reminded her of Ryoko, throwing energy bolts and men around.

"Hydra, don't kill anyone!" the miko ordered as a shuttle full of unarmored troops rushed to join the fray.

"Yeah, yeah Akane," Hydra addressed the miko irritably. She blasted several back, narrowly missing Ranma, "All we wanted was a couple of drinks, for crying out loud!"

"Sorry, folks," Ranma dropped the last armored trooper then faced the reinforcements, "but you have to admit, this is fun!"

"You have an interesting definition of 'fun'!" Akane panted.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Erica Swensen, covert operative of S.H.I.E.L.D., watched the battle raging on in front of them with slack jawed disbelief. Their troops, elite cape-killers trained to take down the most powerful beings on earth, were gradually being ground down by the defending forces. It shouldn't have been possible, but there it was.

"What do we do, ma'am?" Nancy asked softly, the youngest member of their team looking on wide eyed and frightened.

"We're going to have to use it," Erica said flatly, seeing there were only three fully armored troopers left. Carefully she took her watch, MP3 player and the golden ring off her key chain, combining them into a small device.

"We were under orders to observe only!" the third agent frowned.

"Our orders _**didn't**_ count on the assault team being stopped cold!" Erica shot back in a whisper. "Cover me," she said, rising as she twisted the device to activate it. Tossing it behind Juri and the others, they dove for cover behind a fallen table.

"BOMB!" Alpha yelled, realizing what they were doing too late. It hit the ground and burst with a bright pulse of light, but nothing else.

"Dud?" Juri asked, then realized her energy sword wasn't working.

Erica emerged from behind a table, a snub ceramic gun in her hands. "That was an area effect dampener," she said flatly as the remaining troopers moved forward. "For the next ten minutes you are as human as any of us. Surrender before you get hurt!"

"As _**if!**_" Nabiki said as she casually karate-chopped Erica down, Keiko hitting another with a chair and May tackling the third to the floor.

The four intact armored suits should have had the advantage, but even powerless these fighters were no ordinary women. Juri, Minagi, Nabiki and Ryouko switched over to martial arts and proceeded to hammer the armors as Excel, Hyatt, May, and Keiko engaged the unarmored men. The group of them hurt like hell when they were done, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were down.

"All right!" Ryoko said as they limped down the hall, "Let's see what's going on outside!"

Ranma seemed to be having fun, but as the three women looked up into the night sky they froze. A giant mobile base hung up above the Locket, shining spotlights on it as it released what looked like several fighter planes and yet another batch of cape-killer armors.

"Well, crap!" Juri sighed.

To be continued!

Our Cast: Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo are from Ranma ½, Juri Arisugawa and Keiko are from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mahoro is from Mahoromantic, Sasami, Ryouko and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo, Alpha is from YKK and May is from Hand Maid May.

Characters: Erica Swensen is from Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Maria Hill is from Avengers and other books, Jasper Stillwell is from Iron Man, Hydra and Akane are from UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, Amachi Hitsugi and Miyamoto Shizuku are from Hayate Cross Blade, and Abbey Chase and her team are based off Danger Girls, Rally Vincent is from GunSmith Cats, Seras Victoria is from Hellsing, and Moria Hedgley is an original character from BigKwell's series 'Night Angels: Version 2'.


	5. Third Wave

Arisugawa's Locket Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.

Part Three by: Shanejayell, Claude C. Kenny, and BigKwell

It was during the tail end of the brief scuffle within the confines of Arisugawa's Locket that certain guests finally descended from the upper rooms, some of them apparently in a hurried state of dress. Case in point:

"What the hell is up with all that racket below?" grumbled a tall and aristocratic type with an askew jacket on as she frantically ran a comb through her long blue tresses. Her two companions were just as curious - and wary - as she was.

"I think there's a fight going on," spoke a short, bespectacled woman who appeared to be the one (nominally) in charge of the trio. As she gathered her auburn hair into a ponytail and tied an orange ribbon round it, Tsugumi Takakura turned to the third and the youngest of their party and asked, "Ibis, it sounds like the noise has died down. What can you see?"

Ibis Douglas, who was first down the stairs, scanned the first floor, noting the damage, the throng of customers and bar staff, and the subdued attackers. Turning back to her partners as they finally reached the bottom steps, she said, "They've got it under control now, I think." A few passes of her free hand over her head made her short fiery red hair (with dark brown highlights) presentable enough, then her other hand, holding her silver jacket, got to the business of putting it on. "Let's ask Ryouko what happened, Sleigh."

"On it." Sleigh Presty passed Ibis, her hair now also kept neat by a red ribbon matching the rest of her clothes.

A few seconds earlier Juri Arisugawa looked up into the night sky, seeing the massive flying platform above the bar that was spitting out yet another batch of the damned armored troops and launching some kind of fighters too. "Well, crap!" Juri sighed.

Ryouko and Minagi exchanged worried looks as they turned to hurry back into the bar. "Boss," Ryouko told Juri urgently, "fighting those troops and that power damper left us pretty tapped out. I dunno how much longer we can...."

"I know," Juri said flatly as they hurried into the bar itself, where May, Keiko and Excel were starting to clean up. "Excuse me, ladies of the bar!" she shouted.

May looked up and saw the expression on Juri's face and murmured, "Oh dear."

Seeing she had everyone's attention Juri took a deep breath and sighed. "There's another squad of armored troopers coming in a few minutes, larger than the last one, along with fighter support," she told them calmly, "at this point I'm no longer confident we can successfully defend the bar."

Juri felt everyone looking at her, but made herself continue. "When Washu made the bar able to access other dimensions, I had her put in a special back door," she told them, "if you use it, it will send you home no matter what shape the rest of the bar is in. I urge you to use it now."

Moria Hedgley rose, the young brunette looking at Juri seriously. "And what do you intend to do, Miss Arisugawa?" she asked.

Juri shrugged as she said, "I'm not dead yet, and I intend to continue fighting for the bar."

Rally, Seres and Moira exchanged glances then all three nodded. "We'll help," Rally Vincent said firmly, the vampiress giving a slightly fangy smile.

"But...," Juri blinked.

"This is more than just a bar to us," Amachi Hitsugi of the Tenchi academy said gently, her light brown hair flowing over her shoulders, "it has been a home away from home where we have always been welcome."

"Hitsugi-san, is right," Miyamoto Shizuku agreed, her short red-brown hair held back by a headband. The white clad woman passed a wooden sword to Hitsugi as she smiled, "And I assure you, we can help."

"They're right, Juri," 'Whirlwind' Solude Schfoltzer smiled as the spiky black haired swords woman continued, "stop being stubborn and let us help."

Nabiki nodded as she poked Juri in the side, "They're right, boss."

"Ow," Juri swatted the girl's hand away, smiling. "All right," she gave in, "Minagi, get back to the bar and give everyone their weapons."

"On it," Minagi ran for the bar followed by the customers.

As they armed the customers Juri's mind raced, the beginnings of a plan forming, or at least a strategy. "Ryouko, Sasami?" she called.

Ryouko was by her side in a moment, Sasami emerging from the kitchen where the young princess of Jurai had retreated. "Yes, Juri?" Sasami asked.

"How quickly can you get Ryo-Ohki and Tsunami going?" Juri asked.

"It'll take me a few minutes to call the furball," Ryouko admitted while Sasami agreed it would take her about that long too.

Juri smiled, "This is what I want you to do...."

Sleigh went over to Juri, who was conferring with Ryouko, "Juri, we would very much like to help as well, especially where this flying fortress you mentioned is concerned. If we returned to our dimension through your 'back door', might we be able to return with a few...things?"

Juri began to smile slightly as she asked, "What sort of... things?"

Tsugumi took up the explanation. "Miss Ryouko already knows that the three of us are space pilots, and that our deep-space exploration vessels also happen to be fully combat-capable. If it is at all possible, we are perfectly willing to bring them over to here so we can take the battle to your assailants."

"Yeah," piped in Ibis. "We really enjoyed spending time here in the Locket. I can't stand the thought of it being destroyed by some people who just don't know better. We want to help, Juri!"

It was an unusual request to be sure, but right now any help was most welcome to keep her life's dream alive. Juri nodded. "I'll talk to Ryouko about it, ask her to relay to Washu. If you see something...different in the air above the Locket building in your dimension, try checking it out."

"Then we'll be back as soon as we are able," replied Tsugumi.

Quickly Juri added, "As much as possible try to avoid fatalities, or this organization's attack on the Locket will be justified."

"We understand, Miss Juri," replied Tsugumi. "We are going to exercise caution when we engage."

As Juri watched the three women jog off she wondered why that promise didn't comfort her much, then with a shake of her head went back to concentrating on defending the bar.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Commander Maria Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D. watched a third launch of the cape-killer armors in mild disbelief. Mission planning for this operation had expected that a full team of standard agents would be enough, instead they had devoted several times their planned resources.

"The women outside the bar have been contained, though they are putting up stiff resistance still," a communications officer relayed.

"Contained, not stopped?" Maria clarified and the officer nodded glumly. She thought a moment, "Have the fighters launch a gas bomb. Something non-lethal but incapacitating."

Another agent spoke up, "One fighter has been downed, the others are currently engaged in aerial combat."

"Against what?" Maria demanded, wondering what other surprise this crazy operation was going to throw at them.

"We need to debrief the pilot to confirm," the agent cautioned before passing on the info, "but apparently a pink haired woman ripped the wings right off his plane before setting him down on a rooftop. He's dazed, but unhurt."

"Well, that's just lovely," Maria said, feeling a headache coming on. "Well, suit cameras showed Agent Swensen deploying a power damper bomb earlier," she mused, "the next squad of cape killers should be encountering less resistance."

The communications officer puffed out a sigh. Taking a deep breath he said,, "Actually, from the suit chatter and visuals... the bar's defenders have gotten reinforcements."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Alpha, Rally Vincent and Mahoro laid down cover fire from upstairs, bullets hitting the advancing armors with superhuman accuracy. "We're running out of bullets," Alpha cautioned, the green haired android blowing off a armored suit's targeting scope.

"Then Mahoro and I'll join the front line," Rally smiled, firing her own pistol as the vampire said, "you get to cover, hear?"

"But...," Alpha started then trailed off, biting her lip. While a android she was modeled to be mostly human, with just human abilities.

Up on the front line Juri had managed to reignite her energy blade, but it was much weaker than usual. Thankfully she was supported by Hitsugi and Shizuku, the two wielding their wooden practice swords with devastating strength and skill. Minagi had switched from energy attacks to brute strength, fighting beside Excel and Hyatt. Nabiki was blowing the rust right off her old martial arts training, fighting several unarmored troopers who followed the cape-killers in.

"You people are insane!" a trooper finally cracked under the strain of combat, switching his arm cannon from stun rounds to lethal. "I'm not screwing around anymore!" he yelled, firing the rocket propelled grenade off.

While not soldiers most of the people on the front line were skilled fighters, and their first reflex was to dodge the rapidly flying missile. But others with less combat skill weren't so ready or as lucky. "Oh, blast," Moria blurted out as she ran and leaped, roughly shoving both Keiko and May aside as the projectile hit.

Moira and Keiko were closest to the blast, though Moira had twisted her body to put herself between the bomb and the waitress. Both however were sent flying by the blast and each caught at least some of the shrapnel from the warhead.

"Moira!" Seres yelled, her eyes suddenly shifting to pure red. With a growl the vampiress attacked with greater ferocity than before, a fury echoed by the others for Keiko.

Just before the grenade launch, Alpha noticed she was out of bullets. She tucked her gun away as the green haired girl hurried to the injured women's side. She found May unharmed, if stunned then checked over Moira and Keiko.

Moria had managed to roust herself up, then winced as she went for her right arm – then pulled it back when she found something warm and wet touching the palm of her hand! Looking at it, she found to her horror that it was covered in blood – her blood!

"I... I've been shot!" she gasped, then looked angrily at the trooper that launched the grenade. Suddenly, her normally green eyes changed to a bluish-white as fangs grew in her mouth. Then her body began to grow in size, her clothing tearing as silver-gray fur sprouted. Ignoring the pain in her arm, Moria, now a human/wolf hybrid, launched herself at him, only to be blocked several troopers. But she didn't care, as she began throwing them like so much trash.

Juri saw Moira breaking through the troops to reach the man who had fired, bodily picking him up as she tore off his armor with ease. Her fangs were bared as the man screamed in fear and Juri called, "Don't kill him!"

"Why not?" Moira demanded, shaking the man furiously as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents uselessly tried to peel her off him.

"He's the officer of some kind of law enforcement," Juri said as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents parted enough to let her reach the woman's side, "they won't forgive the killing of one of their own."

Moira wanted to bite him, but she knew Juri was right. Hell, even Hellsing worked that way, avenging a fallen soldier whenever possible. With a subdued growl she tossed him at a nearby trooper, "Get him the hell away from me."

There was a moment of dead silence as the S.H.I.E.L.D. troops looked at the defenders warily, then the leader of the latest bunch stepped forward, flipping up his suit's visor so they could see his face. "My name is Jimmy Woo," he smiled grimly as he looked around, a third of his troops down, the others banged up. "Your people have put up one hell of a fight," he admitted, "but we'll win this fight in the end. Give up."

Juri met his eyes calmly, mentally figuring the time and deciding that enough time had passed. "Can you contact you command with those armors?" Juri asked.

Jimmy frowned, "Yeah."

"I'd strongly suggest calling them," Juri said with a slight smile.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"That does it," snarled Maria Hill at the impertinent display of the pink haired superhuman dropping another ruined S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter right on the Helicarrier flight deck. She began issuing new orders to her crew. "Send in more fighters to buzz that area until the target surrenders. And intensify the AA barrage. I want that girl and her friends out of my sky!"

"Ma'am!" cried one of the radar operators. "Sensors are picking up an anomaly directly above the bar's location." Up came an image of what appeared to be a hole in the air. "Possible space-time distortion...and something's coming out!"

Standing on top of a nearby office tower Kurumi too was taken aback by the appearance of the gaping warp hole high above the Locket - and what came zooming out of it.

First was a sleek-looking silver space fighter-craft that had the superficial appearance of a flying wedge. Next came a larger, red spacecraft with formidable looking weapon modules at each wingtip. To her amazement they immediately homed in on the large flying fortress, engaging its point defenses and helping out Ryo-Ohki with the fighters that were starting to fill the sky. She did get a good look at the painted legends on the fuselages: "Silver Shooting Star" for the first, "Scarlet Comet" for the second.

"Wow," was all that came out of her mouth. It spoke a lot about the Locket's reputation that its loyal clientele would go this far to keep it safe.

In her fighter craft Tsumugi hailed both Ryo-Ohki and Tsunami, asking the alien ships to back off a moment then she switched frequencies, and turned to her pilot. "You both know what needs to be done, right?" she asked knowing that Sleigh was also listening in on her red Vegalion.

In front of her, on the silver Altairion's pilot seat, Ibis flashed her a thumbs up. "Okay! Let's get to work, Tsugumi." Her bright spirit brought an answering smile on the face of the bespectacled navigator. Tsugumi couldn't help but share in the optimism exuded by her "Shooting Star".

"Shock and awe, copy that," came Sleigh's reply from her end. "Time to clip these inferior pilots' wings!"

"Don't overdo it, Sleigh. We need you," Ibis voiced back, concern for her role model, her other lover, evident. There was no need to worry about Tsugumi's reaction; both of them felt the same way for the blue-haired firebrand, the third corner of their triangle.

"Fighters inbound, Ibis," warned Tsugumi from her navigation seat.

The two armored modules split up, Ibis and Tsugumi dealing with the fighters while Sleigh had her Vegalion buzz the ground forces attacking below.

"Multiple target acquisition. Pleiades missile, deploy!" With that, the space pilot known as the Scarlet Comet launched a large projectile that deployed a shower of smaller heat-seekers down on the cape-killer armors still outside on the streets, making sure only to knock them off their feet, not blow them up.

"Missile barrage, Spiegaul and Prominence, FIRE!" cried Ibis as the smaller Altairion loosed off its own missiles, sending S.H.I.E.L.D. craft scrambling, and failing to get away.

"Transform to Doll Frame mode and use Sonic Sabers for close-in," called Tsugumi from behind her, and the Shooting Star complied.

Inside the Helicarrier, Maria and the S.H.I.E.L.D. crew gaped as the silver plane transformed into a humanoid mode and began slicing wings off their fighters, forcing pilots to bail out. The larger red craft joined in, buzzing their mobile base with hypersonic passes, sending some serious shock waves through the structure.

"Launch missiles, shoot them down!" one S.H.I.E.L.D. officer screamed impotently as the battering continued, the woman clearly loosing it

Outside, there was Ibis, a simple girl with a dream, but zero faith in her ability to reach that dream. Tsugumi, a scientist who stuck firmly to her figures and calculations and harshly judged those who fall short of her expectations. Sleigh, a perfectionist who strived only to be the best and who saw everyone else as inferior and expendendable to her ends.

Three different people, yet brought together by a common vision - that of Project Terrestrial Dream - and in the trials and tribulations that followed with a galactic-spanning war as a backdrop, they found each other, and were bonded so strongly that now nothing can tear them apart. Together they vowed to sail the Sea of Stars, and God help whoever stood in their way.

"Let's bring this to a close," announced Tsugumi as the two Project TD craft got into a tight flying formation. Her two partners knew what that meant.

"Your call, Tsugumi," said Ibis.

"Ready anytime," followed Sleigh.

The bespectacled woman triggered a switch in her console as Tsumugi cried, "Initiate HYPER 77. Formation Helios, Start!"

"Fly, Vegalion!"

"Altairion, go!" At this the two spacecraft rocket up into the evening sky. And they merged.

Within the Hellicarrier, technicians raced to understand what was happening as the exotic fighters attacked then shockingly combined. "Energy reading have spiked well beyond our instruments ability to measure!" one man cried.

"We're screwed," a Hellicarrier officer summed it up simply..

"Hyperion, all systems green!" exulted Tsugumi as the red-and-silver behemoth that was their combined machine, the pinnacle of their shared dreams, swooped back down on the flying carrier. Now for the finale.

"Execute Maneuver GRaMXs!" cried Ibis.

"Roger," answered Tsugumi. "Data Load!"

"Tesla Drive, full boost!" Sleigh called out.

The armored module Hyperion brought its weapons to bear as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier's flight deck came closer and closer, still frantically launching planes. And the Shooting Star Sliced the Night Apart.

Even as that massive attack swept the night sky clear of any mobile resistance the Hellicarrier rocked as it was attacked, agents scrambling to hold on as bolt after bolt struck home. Maria Hill barely kept her seat in the command center as she demanded of her crew, "What the hell are they?!"

"Two of them are some kind of Alien ships!" Jasper Stillwell reported as he tried to hold on to a control panel, "The three others are unknown mecha!"

"Myah!" the black, crystalline ship boomed out happily as it blew away another set of primary canons. The other alien ship appeared to be constructed of some kind of wood, but it's S.H.I.E.L.D.s bounced anything they threw at it as it disabled guns too.

"This is field Agent Woo," the voice asked from the surface, "Hellicarrier, what is your current situation?"

"We're under attack!" the nearly hysterical communications officer snapped back.

There was a long moment of dead silence, then another voice came on the radio. "This is Juri Arisugawa," the woman said flatly, "you might recognize the name, considering it's my bar that you people attacked."

"Miss Arisugawa," Maria answered, keeping her voice even as another gun exploded on the top deck, "are you responsible for this attack?"

"You attacked our home, I thought it appropriate to return the favor," Juri answered. Her voice became even more deadly serious as she said, "Remove your soldiers and leave us in peace, or we'll happily sink your little flying aircraft carrier."

"You wouldn't dare," Maria said grimly.

Grimly Juri answered, "Try me." She added, "It's all I can do to keep some of my allies up there from blowing you to hell now!

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Jimmy Woo looked at Juri, trying to tell if the woman was serious, or just had a great poker face. To be honest, he couldn't tell and he felt his fellow agents shifting nervously. Finally Maria asked, "You'll release any and all captive agents?"

"They can leave with the rest of your forces," Juri promised.

With great reluctance Maria said, "We're scrubbing the mission, Agent Woo. Collect the captured and injured agents and wait outside for pickup."

As a gesture of good faith Juri used her phone to call Ryouko, "Back off a bit, but be ready in case they try something. Pass the message on to Ibis, Tsugumi and Sleigh too. "

Outside, Ranma made a disappointed sound as the surrender order came in and the S.H.I.E.L.D. ninjas backed off. "Damn," the battered and bleeding redhead complained, "just when it was getting good, too."

"You're insane, Saotome," the Lady grumbled, shaking her head as Trish looked on, amused.

"Saotome?" a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent paused as he took a good look at Ranma, "Ranma Saotome? But, it's not possible...."

Before anything more could be said the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. left the bar, Jimmy Woo's people supporting many of the injured along with Abbey Chase and Erica Swensen. All the agents looked shell shocked to one degree or another, all belonging to a organization that was used to winning who suffered a major loss.

"No insult intended," Juri said as she followed them out, "but I hope I don't see you again."

"Well, personally the feeling is very mutual," Abbey Chase sighed. This mess was not going to look good on her record.

"It's been fun," Ranma waved as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gathered across the parking lot.

Jimmy Woo turned to say something biting only to blink in surprise. The bar, it's people and all the odd people connected to it were all fading away, then in a second were gone. "What the hell?" Jimmy blurted .

To be continued....

Our Cast: Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo are from Ranma ½, Juri Arisugawa and Keiko are from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ryouko and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo and May is from Hand Maid May.

Characters: Erica Swensen is from Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Maria Hill is from Avengers and other books, Abbey Chase and her team are based off Danger Girls, Amachi Hitsugi and Miyamoto Shizuku are from Hayate Cross Blade, Trish and Lady, from Devil May Cry the Animation, Saki and Kurumi from Steel Angel Kurumi, Jimmy Woo is from S.H.I.E.L.D., Rally Vincent is from Gunsmith Cats, Seres Victoria is from Hellsing, Schfoltzer is from Maze, Ibis Douglas, Tsugumi Takakura and Sleigh Presty are Banpresto Original characters and Moria Hedgley is from a original fic by BigKwell, Night Angels.

Claude C. Kenny's Author's Notes:

Characters:

~ Ibis Douglas, Tsugumi Takakura and Sleigh Presty are Banpresto Original characters. These particular versions of them come from the timeline of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 on the PS2. For the otaku readers, here are links so you can visualize the sort of punishment that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier was in for this segment.

.com/watch?v=u4P3po9lvBM

.com/watch?v=HFQycWmZV9s

.com/watch?v=oTnilyluKGQ

.com/watch?v=Ca1ItfQ82k0

Yeah, actually I had two different Banpresto Originals set to show up here, but I had trouble writing them in (not to mention just how "broken" they would be when they got into the fight), so I went with another pairing - make that troika - from the source material that has already been "substantiated" in several SRW H-Doujin and H-Fics. I really hope I've done them a wee bit of justice here.

I also put in a different Omake this time, to match my contribution.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

OMAKE:

"Damage report!" shouted Maria Hill after getting up from her fall in the aftermath of the strange mecha's assault on their flight deck.

In reply, a monitor feed was shown of the pockmarked launch area. The impact holes from the ammunition shower spelled out:

YOU JUST INCURRED THE WRATH OF A LOT OF LESBIANS ACROSS THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE

Silence. Then a S.H.I.E.L.D. techie felt the need to ask, using lights to spell out, "O RLY?"

There came another fusillade of firepower on the deck, forming the quick reply:

YA, RLY

~END


	6. Aftermath

Arisugawa's Locket vs S.H.I.E.L.D

Aftermath & Author's Notes by Shanejayell and Elwin 'Blaine' Coldiron

In the hours after the attack, there was a fierce celebration, but all parties have to end eventually. And there was a noted absence to the 'victory' celebration. Irene 'Rally' Vincent and Seras Victoria were extremely worried about their wounded lover Moria Hedgley and asked Juri if it was at all possible if they could be excused to take her home. Thankfully, the Locket's dimensional tuner was active again and the three were able to get back to England, followed by the rest of the customers a few hours later when Juri closed the bar.

Juri Arisugawa winced as she felt a pounding headache, more from a few hard blows to the head than anything else. The bar was officially closed as she sat at a table being fussed over by her wife Setsuna Meiou, while other volunteers and friends started assessing the damage. Alpha, Ryouko Hakubi, Minagi, Mahoro Ando and Nabiki Tendo were the staff still helping, the cyberdoll May having taken Keiko Sonoda home to fuss over her now set and expertly bandaged arm.

"Damn it, Juri, why didn't you call us?" Setsuna demanded, brushing some of Juri's orange hair away from a livid bruise, clucking softly in distress. She, Haruka Tenoh, and Michiru Kaioh, had appeared soon after the S.H.I.E.L.D units had fled, along with several other friends.

"I didn't think we really had much choice," Juri admitted, wincing slightly as Minagi and the others tore down a section of wrecked wall paneling.

"Oh?" Setsuna frowned, her black-green hair shimmering

"We were 'locked in' on that other dimension," Juri said reasonably. "I had no way of knowing if you could even reach us."

Setsuna took her hands and squeezed them, "I would have found a way." She smiled faintly, "If I had to, I would have gotten all the senshi together and teleported in."

"True," Juri agreed, "but I didn't want the senshi fighting with us this time."

"Say what?" Haruka frowned, the sandy-haired blond stacking tables so they could better see the damage to parts of the floor. Just a casual look showed that a lot of flooring tile was going to have to come up, unless they wanted the scuff marks to stay.

"They looked like government troops," Juri said patiently, "and they claimed to have authorization from the Japanese government. I was not putting the heroic Sailor Senshi in a position of opposing the government."

That made the three Outers pause for a moment. "We're soldiers of love and justice," Michiru finally said seriously as the aqua-haired woman added, "and if that puts us up against the government, then so be it!"

"Better ask Usagi first," Juri reminded them of their leader pointedly. She stood up with a wince of pain, "Besides, they may come back and I'll call you up again." No one looked terribly happy about that idea, Juri noticed.

"We could ask Washu to come down again," Minagi offered after a moment, the superhumanly strong girl carting wrecked lumber away from the front entrance, "maybe block all access from that world?" She and Nabiki were clearing debris and improvising a temporary door until Nabiki could call some contractors in.

"But do we have the right to decide not to accept customers from that universe?" Juri asked, frowning slightly. To think, all she started out to do was run a bar...

Up at the main bar, Ryouko was pulling bottles of the shelf that had been holed by bullet fire or shattered by the 'stun' bullets, dumping them into a basin to be disposed of later. "They certainly need someplace like us, if they have jerks like that running around," she offered.

"You've got a point," Juri conceded.

As Haruka and Michiru helped pick up, Juri and Setsuna walked up to where the heavier work was ongoing to assess the damage. The upstairs rooms, karaoke section and the library had both survived intact, little damage having been done and Juri suspected a Paper Sister had been there during the brawl, protecting the books. The main battle had happened in the dancing & eating portion of the bar, tables and floor both broken and scuffed up. The front hall was the worst damaged, walls blown out to reveal the storage rooms on one side and the oversized coat room on the other, the majority of contents in both wrecked.

Setsuna looked around them, her expression grave as she took in the destruction and asked, "Can you afford to repair it all?"

"Yeah," Juri said with a frown, "my inheritance should cover it… along with a chunk of our profits for the year."

"No insurance?" Setsuna looked startled.

Juri smiled ruefully as she said, "I have it… but I can't exactly tell my insurer that we were attacked by soldiers from another dimension. They'd never believe me!"

"In a Tokyo with Sailor Moon running around, not to mention all the other craziness we deal with daily?" Nabiki Tendo jumped in. She smirked as she told them both, "Trust me, I'll get the insurance money paid out!"

Juri bowed to her slightly, "I leave it in your capable hands."

"Damn straight," Nabiki nodded as she mentally added, '_**And maybe get some out of those S.H.I.E.L.D goons too.'**_ The two women looked at the rubble a moment thoughtfully, then she mused, "I guess you were right about having a small entrance way, defensively speaking."

Setsuna looked at both of them disbelievingly, "You're telling me you designed this place to be defensible from the beginning?"

"Not really," Juri answered her promptly, "but I didn't mind taking advantage of the design we did come up with."

Setsuna shook her head, smiling, "Either way, I'm impressed."

"Maybe," Nabiki looked around with a frown, "but those guys know our weak spots. You know, I think we need to beef the defenses up a bit."

Juri looked at her questioningly, "Got a way to do it without bankrupting me?"

"I have sources," Nabiki said modestly. "Those S.H.I.E.L.D guys will find it a lot harder to blow out the hallway with armor plate behind the walls."

"Could we put some murder holes in the ceiling?" Minagi asked eagerly, "I'd love to drop something nasty on intruders."

"That'd be a bit much," Juri cautioned, "But speaking of armor, could we add drop down armored barriers? That'll box-in any attackers nicely."

"We could use a better sniper position, too," Mahoro noted as she stripped away damaged boards, keeping a eye out for structural supports, "Alpha, Rally and I were feeling a bit exposed up on the top of the stairs there." As Nabiki made notes, they cleaned up and plotted on how to defend the bar from another attack, this time without calling on the customers too much.

Setsuna, Haruka and Michiru watched, slightly surprised by their overall optimistic air. "You know," Haruka mused as she leaned for a moment on her broom, "it's almost like they _**want **_another attack, just to beat them cleanly."

Michiru chuckled slightly at her lover as she pointed out, "If it were you over there, you'd want a round two, too."

Haruka looked startled, then laughed, "Yeah, you're right."

Setsuna nodded, never taking her eyes of Juri as her lover and wife planned the rebuilding of the bar, "I think that's part of why I love her."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Maria Hill felt the onset of a headache coming on, but continued looking out a window onto the flight deck. Repair crews were guiding a replacement for one of the defensive guns, while another team tore out damaged sections of armored plate, armor designed to withstand even nuclear forces. There had even been talk of scrapping this Helicarrier due to the ship-wide damage and commission a new one, and depending on how much the repairs came to it could still happen.

Sighing, Maria returned to her desk and resumed tapping away at her computer in her darkened office. It was two weeks after the debacle at Arisugawa's Locket, which had left S.H.I.E.L.D heavily damaged both in equipment and morale, and Maria was struggling with the final report on the incident. She had promised S.H.I.E.L.D director Anthony Edward Stark with a copy her recommendations on avoiding such a disaster to be on his desk the first thing in the morning – a promise she intended to keep! However, she decided to pause a bit, reflecting on how the whole thing went down.

The whole operation was intended to be a simple capture operation, no shooting whatsoever. But it quickly degenerated into a pitched battle, which included not only the Locket's owner, Juri Arisugawa and her staff, but also the patrons as well. A week after it was through, Hill had a chance to meet with Arisugawa face-to-face. Understandably, the owner was angry about the whole thing, revealing that one of her staff, Keiko Sonoda, had been injured during the fighting, but was recovering at home with her lover. Maria then learned afterward that a patron of the bar, Moria Hedgley, was also wounded severly, but had since then recovered fully, possibly due to her superhuman nature.

As a result, Maria supervised the debriefing of the agents involved in the operation, the reasons being to sift-out what had gone wrong and what was to be done about it. There was one thing both sides agreed upon – the cause of the incident was an overly-eager operative who tried to stun the door woman, a Miss Ramna Saotome, without so much as an order to do so. That operative since then had received a severe reprimand on his record and was placed on two weeks administrative leave, without pay. Personally Maria had wanted to simply dismiss the man, but certain political considerations had held her back.

'_**At least that'll keep any more hotheads within the organization from acting rashly in the future,'**_ Maria thought to herself, resuming her task. '_**I hope, anyway,'**_ she added ruefully. She continued to tap away at her report, mentally fighting her growing headache, when she heard a tapping at her door. "Come!" she called out, wincing as she did. "Oh Erica!" she exclaimed as the door opened. "What brings you here?"

Erica Swensen, who seemed be holding a thick folder, paused for a bit, looking at her superior. "You look like hell!" she said. "Maybe I should come back later."

"No... please stay!" Maria pleaded. "Besides, I'm working on the final paragraph of this report, I could welcome the company." Looking up at the girl, she added, "So... any thoughts on the Locket operation?"

"Nothing that I've already set-out in debriefing, ma'am," Swenson said, pausing a bit as if she had something more to say.

"Erica," Maria said firmly, "I know what was said in debriefing! Hell, I listened how that pink-haired girl disabled a good number of our fighters before we had to pull-out!" She paused before adding, "I just want to hear about what we did wrong from that attack. Is there anything that's bouncing in that head of yours?"

"Not offhand," Erica said shrugging, "although I was more than a little surprised that those girls wouldn't give-up despite being technologically and numerically disadvantaged."

"Actually, in light of certain data that's come forward, we were extremely lucky that night!" Maria then went to a drawer in her desk, where she produced a thick, dog-eared paperback book. "Take a look at the cover and tell me what you see!"

Curious, Erica casually picked-up the book – and her eyes bugged-out when she saw the cover. "That... that looks just like the door woman at the bar!" she gasped as she began to peruse the book, which was 'Ramna ½' by Rumiko Takahashi. "How can a character in a book like this exist in real life? It's impossible!"

"It's worse than that," Maria said wryly. "After an agent recognized Miss Saotome, I had the footage from the armor cameras analyzed against a fiction database. We got hits on almost _**all**_ the combatants!" Maria activated a computer monitor, flashing images from 'Revolutionary Girl Utena', 'Tenchi Muyo!', 'Steel Angel Kurumi', and others. "They _**all **_appeared in that bar, even the owner!", Maria picking up the Utena DVD as an example, an orange-haired woman on the cover. "I read the Ramna manga, and I suspect that, without the suit power-dampers, she could have beaten that whole squad on her own!"

"That's... incredible," Erica managed, blinking..

"However, there were a few inconsistencies we've ran into. Take this one." Maria then picked-up a 'Gunsmith Cats' manga, "There was no reference of the main character, Rally Vincent, being a vampire, not to mention being the lover of one! We're still trying to figure out _**that one!**_"

Erica paused for a bit. "Now that you've mentioned it, I _**was**_ thinking about that werewolf girl that was wounded during the attack," she said, looking thoughtful. "Some of the techs did a little analysis on her, and she seemed to approximate the power of Jacob Russoff," she explained, "although how she managed to do a transformation on a night without the full moon is still a mystery to them."

"Write up a report on any observations you made," Maria said, "but make it 'Eyes only' for myself and Director Stark." Erica looked curious and she added, "Tony made the final decision on that place. He said that, since that bar had originated in a dimensional plane outside of S.H.I.E.L.D's , jurisdiction, it's best to ignore it in the future. Hell, Stark-Tech is still trying to replace the equipment damaged or destroyed in the attack, which is going to cost them plenty!"

"Then I hate to irritate you further, Maria," Erica said pensively, "but I've got more bad news for you." She then presented Maria with the folder she had carried in, which she plopped on her desk with a heavy thud.

"What is... this?" Maria demanded, staring at the folder.

Erica looked sheepish as she struggled for something to say. "A few of our agents went back, unarmed, to follow-up on how they were doing..." she looked embarrassed as she added, "and the Locket's financial adviser presented them with a bill for the damages to the bar!"

Maria was aghast. "You're kidding!?! We did _**that much**_ damage to that bar!?!" she exclaimed, feeling her headache getting worse.

"Well... not all of it was from that bar," Erica muttered. "A lot of it were from adjoining businesses that picked-up collateral damage from the attack, not to mention of city services that were wrecked as a result. They tried to get the Locket to pay for them, but their financial adviser, Miss Tendo, suggested that, since we caused the damage in the first place, then we should be the ones to pay for the repairs."

Groaning, Maria's head slumped on the desk, her hands gripping the back of it tightly. "Ma'am?" Erica asked. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

There was a pause, then Maria sighed, "Erica... could you get me some water and aspirin? This headache of mine is killing me!"

End!

Our Cast: Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo are from Ranma ½, Juri Arisugawa and Keiko are from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ryouko and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo, Setsuna, Haruka and Michiru are from Sailor Moon and May is from Hand Maid May.

Characters: Erica Swensen is from Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Tony Stark is from Iron Man and Maria Hill is from Avengers and other books. Rally Vincent is from Gunsmith Cats, Seras Victoria is from Hellsing, and Moria Hedgley is an original character in BigKwell's fic Night Angels.

BigKwell's Author's Notes:

I figured it was about time I put my two-cents in. Ever since Shane made mention of a battle between the Locket and S.H.I.E.L.D. in his regular 'Arisugawa's Locket' series, I had been anticipating getting involved in the whole thing, having added the part of Moria getting wounded in 'Night Angels' (please read 'London Drift, Pt. 5: A Bad Night' to find-out about it). It took a while before making the suggestion to Shane via e-mail, but I'm glad to work with a couple of the best fan fiction writers on the Net. And from the reviews this fic series this series has been getting, I think it was worth it.

Elwin 'Blaine' Coldiron - BigKwell

9/11/01

FDNY-NYPD-THE REAL HEROES

Shanejayell's Notes:

Okay, big confession time: I never intended to write 'Arisugawa's Locket vs. SHIELD' when I mentioned a SHIELD attack on the bar in the Arisugawa's Locket series. I felt at the time that hinting at the attack and leaving it to the reader's imagination would be better, since what readers imagined would probably be bigger and better than anything I could come up with.

But. BigKwell mentioned the attack in his story, Night Angels, and that was fine, then he asked about that missing chapter. Then he mentioned doing a collaboration with other writers, which I welcomed because it meant less work for me. Lol. Of course, being a control freak I ended up writing WAY more than I originally intended, but it was fun.


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